The E-Sylum:  Volume 10, Number 3, January 21, 2007, Article 18

SPINK TO SELL RARE 1858 HONG KONG BANKNOTE

Late Thursday the 18th Bloomberg News posted a story about
Spink's upcoming sale of a rare 1858 Hong Kong banknote:

"The unissued $25 banknote by Chartered Mercantile Bank of India,
London & China may be the only one in private hands, according to
Spink. The black-and-white note with allegorical symbols of the
British colonial empire is one of about 600 items expected to fetch
up to a combined HK$6 million, said Barnaby Faull, a Spink director.
Chartered Mercantile changed its name to Mercantile Bank in 1892
and was bought by HSBC Group in 1959.

'There may be considerable interest from Hong Kong bidders,' said
Otto Lam, a banknote collector who wrote a doctoral thesis on Western
banking in 19th-century China. 'Chinese collectors aren't very
interested in Hong Kong notes.'

"The auction record for Chinese currency was set in 2003 by China
Guardian Auctions Co., a Beijing-based auctioneer headed by Wang
Yannan, daughter of former Prime Minister Zhao Ziyang, which sold
a complete collection of Chinese banknotes archived by the American
Banknote Company for 3.2 million yuan ($411,787). The auction record
for a Hong Kong banknote was set by Spink a decade ago when a HK$1
HSBC note, bearing serial number 1, was sold for HK$850,000,
according to Faull."

To read the complete article, see: Full Story

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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